One Body of Law Governs Us All — Even CAIR

I want to share with you an important story. I have been covering this story on a blog that I do at Andrew Breitbart’s marvelous Web site biggovernment.com.

As you probably know, biggovernment.com broke the story about ACORN.

In a series of riveting videos, we have been trying in a small way to help illuminate another scandal. It involves an organization called the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

It was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial of last year in which five terrorists were successfully prosecuted, terrorist enablers, financiers and the like. During the course of the proceedings, it also was identified as an associated group of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has as its mission — repeat after me — destroying Western civilization from within.

Of course, CAIR has been much in evidence of late. Most recently, we heard a lot from it about the Fort Hood massacre. The council told us not to read anything into the religion of the individual believed to have perpetrated this massacre. It also downplayed the possibility that his relationship with an al-Qaida recruiter might have had something to do with his actions, or that terrorism more generally designed to advance what authoritative Islam calls Shariah has any connection between Islam and terrorism.

These are the sorts of things that we hear from the Muslim Brotherhood all the time. CAIR is one of its most vocal and vociferous front organizations.

Now, here is the news item: Six Republican lawmakers — a U.S. senator and five representatives — sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service Tuesday asking for the Council on American Islamic Relations to be investigated concerning a possible violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act. This act limits the lobbying expenditures a nonprofit organization can make. The signers include Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Reps. Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Trent Franks and John Shadegg of Arizona, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, and Paul Brown of Georgia.

If CAIR has exceeded the limits, it would risk losing its nonprofit tax status, which means it no longer would be able to receive tax-deductible contributions – a very important factor in the philanthropy of a lot of folks.

So, the question before the IRS now is: Has the council failed to report its tax status and lobbying activities accurately and consistently? If it has not done so, it not only could lose its tax-exempt status but also could face a fine of not more than $200,000 and prison up to five years.

These are rather serious charges. Remember, folks, tax cheating took out Al Capone, the famous — or notorious, I should say — gangster of the 1920s. So, if CAIR has engaged in activities that violate the law, we need to know about it and we need to ensure that corrective action is taken.

One body of law is above all of us.

I know these guys at CAIR and elsewhere want to bring Shariah in and be governed by that law and for that matter have us be governed by it. But for the moment, thank goodness, under our Constitution, under our laws, they and everyone else must conform to one set of laws, promulgated by our Congress, signed into law by the president of the United States and the law of the land and one that we ought to all ensure remains just that.